The Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation made a clumsy mistake on October 2,the birthday of both Mahatma Gandhi and former prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri. The AMC released photographs of Shastris bust being garlanded,with the caption mentioning Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The statues of both Nehru and Shastri are located at the periphery of the Kankaria lake. It is high time a life size statue of the former PM who gave us Jai Jawan Jai Kisan slogan is unveiled. That will probably ensure that Shastri remains alive in public memory.

Secret meet

During his recent visit to the state,Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi met members of the organisation and elected members from across the state. To make sure fair opinion of the workers at the grassroots level,he did not allow any of the senior state leaders like Arjun Modhwadia,Shankarsinh Vaghela,Shaktisinh Gohil to attend these meetings. One of the leaders,who sat inside Modhwadias chamber at Rajiv Gandhi Bhavan in Ahmedabad during Rahuls interaction with workers at a separate hall,said that it was humiliating for senior leaders like him that their vice-president did not trust them. The leader also criticised Rahul for holding a meeting with the cadre when they were almost on the verge of parliamentary election.

Dead end

Stronger the contractor-politician nexus,weaker the quality of roads in Ahmedabad. This has been proved yet again during the current monsoon period when roads were badly damaged and even washed away at so many places that little space was left for vehicles,forcing authorities to allow general public to use the BRTS corridors at Manekbaug near Nehrunagar. The AMC has been compelled to pass the spending of Rs 75 crore on an urgent basis to quell public anger. The AMC has,however,made it clear that the cost of repairs is not going to be recovered from contractors.